


after winter

by Catsby



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alien Cat Jaehyun, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Cyborg Taeyong, Heartbreak, Jaehyun isnt a furry i promise, Lots of backstory, Lovers To Enemies, M/M, Making Out, Outer Space, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Space Cop Johnny, Space Pirate Yuta, Space Pirates, alien fucker Johnny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:48:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22332913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catsby/pseuds/Catsby
Summary: “When will you be back?”Jaehyun’s golden eyes glimmered, and he gave a small smile. “After winter.”And Johnny, the fool, smiled brightly back at him and answered, “Have a safe trip.”And just like that, Jaehyun vanished from his life.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 20
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

Being a member of the Intergalactic Force isn’t at all what Johnny expected. When he signed up, he thought it’d be all high speed space chases and explosions, traveling across the entire universe, visiting hundreds of galaxies and seeing such beautiful alien sights it’d make his head spin. He’d be arresting bad guys, making a name for himself, and chasing all his wildest dreams.

He thought it’d be an adventure.

But no. Apparently all of that and anything else he ever heard about being an IF officer was a fantasy. 

In reality, to put it simply, it’s boring. 

His whole life nowadays consists of “go to this dead, empty planet and walk around for a couple hours, then fly back to Base,” but he can’t exactly complain much. He _did_ choose this life after all.

Still, when he gets another call from HB asking him to head out to planet N-127U for what must be the third time that week, he certainly doesn’t hurry.

“Are you there yet?” the sweet cyborg from Home asks over his headset.

“Almost, Yong,” Johnny answers in a sigh, only one hand on the controls as he lazily weaves his ship between two clusters of meteoroids and other space debris. 

He makes a hard right around one large orb of a planet, and N-127U finally comes into view, a dusty little planet that would be completely empty if not for its slum of a capital on its far eastern side. He slouches in his seat while approaching, grunting when his old, outdated cruiser shakes and rattles while entering the atmosphere. The engine coughs a few times, and he fears it may give out before he can safely land.

For perhaps the 20th time that month, he wonders when IF will upgrade their ships, if not for the safety of their officers or effectivity, then at least for aesthetic purposes. No one’s intimidated when they see this rustbucket soaring about. If anything, they laugh, because they know just from one glance that there’s no way in hell it can keep up with whatever they’re flying.

“Johnny?” Taeyong chimes in over his earpiece once more, and the officer heaves another sigh.

“Docking now, Yongie,” he answers, allowing the workers of the planet’s dock to pull him in and wrangle his ship into a parking spot. 

As soon as it touches down, the cruiser all but collapses, the engine going eerily quiet after a broken wheeze, and Johnny sits there for a moment before sighing and unbuckling, deciding he’ll deal with it later. Worst outcome, he has to sit there and wait for someone from HB to pick him up and tow his ship back. Oh, well.

After a few more seconds of quiet, the cyborg on the other end of the line makes a troubled noise. “Please hurry. We’re getting multiple reports of-”

“I know,” Johnny interrupts, voice nearly drowned out by the hissing of his cruiser’s glass roof unlocking. He waits a moment for it to open automatically, as it should, and then curls his lip when it stays in place. It takes a few poundings from his fist before it finally flies open, and he quickly hops out of the cramped cabin, grunting when his boots hit the dock. “Some kids causing trouble, right?”

“Well, no,” Taeyong starts. “It’s actually-”

“Thanks,” Johnny tells one of the dock workers while tipping them and their friend a couple coins each. He doesn’t even realize he’d interrupted his Operator until he out on the street, waiting for directions but only receiving a deafening silence. He clears his throat and then asks hesitantly, “Yong?”

“I’m certain you remember The Old Boot, don’t you?” Taeyong answers immediately, his frustration coming through loud and clear in his short, sharp tone.

Johnny winces. “Yep.”

“Head there, patrol the area,” the cyborg orders. He's quiet for another moment and then gives a defeated sigh, “And be careful, Johnny.”

The genuine tone to his voice makes Johnny crack a small smile. “I will, Yong. After all, careful is my middle name.”

“No, it most certainly is no-”

He taps the screen on his armguard to end communications and heads on his way down the street, heels leaving broad prints in the dirt path as he goes.

He’s heard time and time again how once, years ago, this place was a beautiful oasis in the heart of the planet’s spanning desert, but for as long as he’s been patrolling these parts, it’s only been dust and sand and dirt. The planet’s dying atmosphere has led to a significant decrease in plant life, leaving behind only a few stragglers, like the thorny, leafless bushes lining the streets.

It chased away a majority of the population as well, especially since the government recently deemed the planet unsafe for full-time inhabitancy and announced its closure and subsequent destruction in the coming years. Breathing the planet’s air for longer than a few hours at a time is apparently harmful to a majority of species, humans included, though Johnny’s never experienced anything worse than a cough while patrolling its streets.

Still, he doesn’t want to find out what _could_ happen, so he hurries on this time as well. 

He especially picks up the pace after catching the gaze of one of the planet’s last unfortunate few, an elderly woman with the face of a frog and dry skin standing in the yard of one tiny hut, a puddle of muddy water at her feet. He wonders what she once looked like, what her home once looked like, and then rushes on, a feeling of guilt and uneasiness tickling his spine.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take long before the town’s pub comes into view, and the already audible chaos coming from inside switches his thoughts. If he had to guess, just based on the shouting and clattering he’s already hearing, it’s probably a brawl spurred on by some altercation between a couple outsiders.

Despite slowly dying, this planet still gets quite a bit of traffic, mostly passerbys looking to grab a quick drink before heading back out on the Milky Highway. The only problem is, a majority of these guests are the unsavory kind. Pirates, smugglers, and the like, all looking for the most lowkey place they can find to chug some booze and maybe get a bite to eat, and what better place than this empty dustbowl tucked behind the largest planet in the system?

Johnny doesn’t mind too much if they need something to eat or drink or a place to rest, so long as they don’t cause any trouble, but that’s just it. These kinds of guests tend to be rather rowdy, to say the least.

He lets out an exasperated breath through his nose as he slowly approaches the front of the pub, hand going to the gun on his belt, just in case. He doesn’t think he’ll need it, as he can usually handle this sort of thing with yelling and maybe a few exchanged fists, but if anything, he can use it as intimidation to get the troublemakers to settle down a bit quicker.

As he gradually creeps closer to the door of the bar, the shouts become clear enough that he can make out words.

“Grab ‘im!” someone shouts, and there’s a burst of laughter from one voice in particular, followed by loud clattering, glass breaking, and a long string of alien swears.

There’s the sound of running footsteps, multiple sets of heavy boots thumping so hard on the wooden floor that Johnny can nearly feel the vibrations from where he stands. Then there’s wood on wood, the banging of furniture being thrown aside and hitting the wall or floor, followed by a woman squealing.

“Up the stairs!” the voice from before shouts. “He’s goin’ upstairs!”

Johnny’s heart jumps into his throat, and he looks up right as the window directly above his head bursts open. Time seems to slow down as he draws his gun, and at the same time, a lean figure leaps from the window, bare feet tapping lightly on the roof for just one, two, three steps before suddenly they’re flying over Johnny’s head.

The shadow they cast over his face has a long tail, and when he looks again, he finds them clutching a thick, glowing rod in their furry appendage. A battery, he realizes suddenly, and his jaw drops. Whoever this is, they just stole a ship battery from one of the bar’s patrons, and a rather expensive-looking one at that.

When they hit the ground, he half-expects them to stumble, because who wouldn’t after jumping from that height? He plans to pounce then, to leap forward and tackle them to the ground before they can get away, but instead, they land it. 

_Perfectly._

Like a cat, his brain supplies, and then he notices the furry ears atop their head. 

Not _like_ a cat, he realizes, and his heartbeat kicks up.

“Hey-” he calls, voice coming out scratchier than he expected, throat already dried out from a mere 30 minutes spent in the desert air. He takes one step forward, and the Felis, still partially crouching from their landing, peers back over their shoulder at him.

And in that one glance, in the depths of those familiar golden catty eyes, Johnny’s taken straight back to his childhood.

He grew up on a planet not unlike this one. His home was a small town in a small colony on a dying earth. The grass and trees and flowers around him were just beginning to wilt and wither, the last life being drained from their roots and the color from their leaves. He expected them to come back after the approaching winter just as they always did but, “no,” a voice informed him while he sat crouched over one suffering daisy, “they’re gone for good.”

Two paws stood before him, and when he followed the feline legs up, watching as the soft fur slowly tapered to human skin paler than his own, he found himself looking into the golden eyes of the boy who lived down the street. Those same eyes he’s looking into now all these years later.

He’s even still wearing the same cheeky grin he did back then, sharp fangs shining. It just screams, _“catch me if you can.”_

Just like that, time switches back on, and Johnny rushes forward, only to stumble and fall when his feet lose friction in the loose dirt. The thief, on the other hand, takes off easily, paws beating the sand easily and carrying him down the street like a bolt of lightning.

“Fuck- shit-” Johnny mutters, scrambling back to his feet before frantically taking off after the cat-man, ignoring the concerned shouts after him of the people exiting the pub. As he runs, he brings his hand up to tap the screen on his armguard, eyes never leaving the figure before him.

Taeyong’s voice quickly comes over his headset, “Johnny?”

“It’s him!” he blurts out, fumbling for footing as he turns a sharp corner after the swift Felis. “It’s Jaehyun!”

The Felis’s ears twitch, and he sends a quick wide-eyed glance over his shoulder at Johnny before suddenly turning down an alley. It takes Johnny half a second of thinking to decide to keep running forward, tracing a route in his mental map that’ll allow him to cut him off a ways ahead. Maybe it _is_ a good thing he’s visited this hellhole so many times before.

“It is?!” Taeyong gasps, and Johnny can hear his fingers tapping rapidly on a screen. “When they said it was a Felis, I knew there was a chance, but I never would’ve imagined-”

“ _Taeyong!_ ” Johnny groans, his gaze breaking from the path before him just so he can roll his eyes. “You _knew?_ ”

“I was trying to tell you earlier!” Taeyong snips back. “But, no, you just wouldn’t listen, you little-”

“There he is,” Johnny gasps, and at the sound of his voice, the Felis, halfway out the alleyway entrance, whips around to look his way. Their gazes meet, and the cat’s eyes go big for just a brief moment before he turns and takes off down the street, heading straight for the docks and purposefully kicking up a cloud of sand as he goes.

Johnny brings one hand up to press the side of his helmet, lowering his eyeshield, and then taps frantically at the screen of his armguard, gaze flicking from Jaehyun’s broad back to the tiny screen.

“Come on, come on,” he mutters, clicking through the various menus of the over-complicated technology until he finally finds what he’s looking for. He whispers a tiny “yes!” and taps the button to remotely start his ship’s engine. Even though he knows that old clunker won’t be able to keep pace with whatever Jaehyun’s flying, it doesn’t have to be fast enough to chase him down -- it just has to be fast enough to shoot a tracker on his bumper.

He lifts his head to look at the old friend before him and draws in an exhilarated breath, whispering on the exhale, “Gotcha.”

After all these years of radio silence, after no news or signs or anything for _so_ long, after praying his heart out and working his ass off to get to where he is specifically for this goal, the time has finally come.

_“Why’d you leave?”_

It echoes in his mind -- the question he’s been asking the emptiness of space for years, hoping this one person in particular, the one before him now, might hear.

_“Why’d you leave me?”_

It’s an image burned into his mind, seared with words he hears on his loneliest nights, a scene he’ll never forget.

Jaehyun, nothing more than a silhouette, standing with a bag tossed over his shoulder at the door to their bedroom. If not for the moonlight shining on Johnny’s eyelids, the Felis might’ve snuck away clean without a word, but he was stopped by a whisper of, “Jaehyun?” through the darkness.

He paused and looked back at his drowsy boyfriend sitting up in bed. “Hey, you’re up,” he said, voice weak, disappointed.

“Where are you going?” Johnny mumbled, frowning, rubbing at his eyes. He could’ve sworn Jaehyun was fully dressed, as if ready to go out into the winter weather, but a quick glance towards the window told him it was the middle of the night. Surely his eyes were just playing tricks on him then.

“A trip,” Jaehyun answered, and that made Johnny look twice. He realized then that, no, he wasn’t seeing things, and his heart sank. He started to throw the covers back to rush to Jaehyun, but the Felis was on him in a second, gently grabbing his shoulders and pushing him back down into the mattress.

“Jae-” he started, but a pair of lips on his cut him off. 

Seating himself on top of Johnny’s hips, Jaehyun kissed him like he never had before, with a deep heat that only made him worry that much more. He grunted into the kiss and tried to turn away, but Jaehyun cupped his cheeks and pulled him back, kissing him again and melting his thoughts away.

Gradually, Johnny gave in and sunk into the warmth, his eyelids fluttering closed. He brought his hands up to rest on Jaehyun’s waist, and the Felis purred into the kiss, rocking his hips down against Johnny’s, drawing matching gasps from them both.

“Babe,” he whispered breathlessly, pressing one more tiny peck to Johnny’s soft lips, his breath tickling Johnny’s skin. “I have to go, but I’ll be back, okay? Promise.”

“Promise?” the human whispered back, hands groping at Jaehyun’s rear through his jeans. His fingers found the Felis’s tail and squeezed, and Jaehyun gasped, ducking down to nip lovingly at Johnny’s jawline.

“Promise,” he repeated, breath hot by Johnny’s ear.

It took several more minutes for them to tear away from each other, and then Jaehyun was stood in the doorway again, shrugging his bag over his shoulder once more and straightening his clothes from Johnny’s wandering hands.

He didn’t look back until Johnny spoke up once more from where he was still sat up in bed, asking quietly, “When will you be back?”

Jaehyun’s golden eyes glimmered, and he gave a small smile. “After winter.”

And Johnny, the fool, smiled brightly back at him and answered, “Have a safe trip.”

And just like that, Jaehyun vanished from his life when they were only just 18 years old.

He thought everything was perfect between them. They were going to the same university, both planning to become IF officers like they’d talked about since they were kids. They’d moved in together a month earlier after dating for two years, and they’d only just made the place truly theirs.

Jaehyun seemed happy. He smiled. He smiled _so much._ Every morning, Johnny would wake up to find Jaehyun still asleep, and he’d lie there and wait for him to stir awake as well just so he could see his beautiful, dreamy smile.

 _They_ seemed happy.

He held onto hope for a long time. Even after winter passed and the weak spring took hold, he clutched the few letters Jaehyun sent him and insisted to whoever said otherwise that he was certainly coming back.

“He _promised._ ”

“I know,” Taeyong said once. 

He was a new friend Johnny met while going to university. A cyborg more human than most humans, a green-haired boy with mechanical arms, one blue eye, and a gentle smile. He took hold of Johnny’s hands and willed him to finally let go of those dusty letters, the words of which were now smeared beyond legibility.

Johnny let go of the hope that Jaehyun was coming back, but in its stead, he was filled with new emotions -- exactly what he’s feeling in this moment, while chasing the Felis down more than ten years later through this shitty, dusty ghost town.

Frustration. Hurt and sadness. Betrayal. But above all, determination.

“He’s gonna make a break for it,” Johnny tells Taeyong through his headset, eyes locked onto Jaehyun’s form as he weaves between the few citizens gathered around the dock. He pushes past a couple and barely dodges a fist from the disgruntled man. “I’ll get a tracker on him, be ready to pull it up on your end.”

“Got it!” Taeyong chirps.

Johnny doesn’t know where Jaehyun’s ship is, none really stood out to him earlier, but he can’t chase after him in hopes of catching him before he gets in his ship. Odds are, he probably has someone waiting for him, and as soon as Jaehyun is in and the door is closed, they’ll be off. Johnny can’t be left standing in the dust, not again.

So when Jaehyun makes a sharp turn down another branch of the dock, Johnny keeps running straight to where he knows his ship is docked. His feet pound the wooden boards as he sprints, going as fast as his legs can carry him, and the sight of his cruiser sitting ahead fills him with a sense of relief like he’s never felt before.

From elsewhere in the docking area, he can hear another ship’s boosters warming up, and he spares just a glance to see a sleek ship beginning to rise, the blue paint washed out and chipped with rust in some spots. His heart jumps, and he makes a dive for it, leaping into the open cabin of his tiny cruiser.

He scrambles into the seat and pulls the roof down into place just as the blue ship takes off with such ferocity that the whole dock and all the parked ships shake. He looks up to see the rear bumper of Jaehyun’s ship slowly getting smaller and smaller into the distance, and his hand automatically finds the lever for his boosters.

Taking a deep breath, he pulls, and --

Silence. The ship doesn’t budge even an inch. It’s only then that he realizes the engine isn’t even on, his poor old cruiser still in the exact state he left it earlier.

“Wha-” he huffs, looking down as he pulls the lever again, only to get the same result. He tries the manual turn-on then, flipping up the case over the start switch and then pressing it, with no response. He grits his teeth. “God fucking-”

He tries again and again, his frustration building with each failed attempt to start the ship’s engine, and eventually, it explodes out of him with a yell. He slams his hands against the steering handles and slouches back in his seat, panting while staring at the dash in stunned, angry silence.

Soon, a soft voice comes into his ear, “Johnny?”

He draws a shaky breath, suddenly very aware of the hot tears stinging his eyes. After a moment, he rasps back, “Yeah.”

Taeyong audibly hesitates before asking, “Should I send Doyoung to your location?”

Johnny closes his eyes and lets his head fall back against the uncomfortable rest of his seat

“Yeah,” he whispers, barely able to keep his voice from cracking under the weight of defeat. “Please.”

\---

“Dude, nice one,” Yuta laughs once Jaehyun flops down in the co-pilot’s seat beside him. His eyes are on the stars, so he fails to see the numb expression on his friend’s face, going on with a big grin, “You were awesome! I can’t believe you outran that goon so fast.”

Without giving a second’s pause, Jaehyun replies in a whooshing breath, all the air leaving his lungs in one go, “That was Johnny.”

Yuta pauses and then finally turns to look at his friend, seeming to startle when he at last notices his wide-eyed, pale-as-a-ghost expression. “W-What?”

Jaehyun looks up to meet his gaze and repeats himself, “That was Johnny.”

A silence falls over them for a few long seconds before Yuta slowly turns back to the stars and provides only a quiet whisper of, “Holy shit.”

“Yeah,” Jaehyun replies. He takes a deep, trembling breath and digs his claws into the already shredded leather of his seat’s armrests. For just a short moment, he closes his eyes, and he can still see that fierce gaze boring holes into him, so different from the warmth he once knew. It makes his heart ache in his chest, worse than he's even felt before, and he echoes weakly, “Holy _shit._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi thank u for reading, i hope youre not terribly disappointed  
> ive been on a space au kick recently and after talking with my dear friend cleonhart about this idea at midnight, i had to write it uwu  
> pls let me know if youd be interested in reading more of this au,, i love cat alien jae and would love to write more about him,,
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/longerassride) || [cc](https://curiouscat.me/catsbyy)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He knows he shouldn't linger on such things, but he can't get it out of his mind - the look in Jaehyun's eyes when they first saw each other after all this time.
> 
> The realization, the fear. He wasn't running because he was a thief scared of getting caught. He was running from the past that had finally caught up to him.
> 
> He was running from Johnny.

"I'd like to return this."

The request makes Taeil look up, antennae twitching. He blinks behind his round-rimmed glasses at the man standing suddenly before him, a young Felis with a pretty face and angry eyes. 

The Earth colony in which Taeil is stationed is small enough that within two weeks, he knew every face, but this one is entirely unfamiliar. In fact, this new visitor looks completely out of place here in his tiny shack of an office, his near royal features and sharp, clean clothes a huge contrast to the paint-peeling walls and patchy ceiling.

It gives him a bad feeling, a certain tingle in his right antenna that tells him this’ll be trouble.

The Moonie leans back in his seat, the old wood creaking with the shift. "This isn't a convenience store or something, you know."

The younger bares his teeth in a tiny snarl before slamming the letter in his hand down onto Taeil's desk, making the postman jump. 

"I know," he snips, and he leans forward to put so much weight on the desk that the wood groans, his pointed nails adding injury to insult as they dig in, leaving deep divots in the surface. "I would still like to return this to wherever the hell it came from."

Barely containing a sigh, Taeil reaches out to take the letter, cutting his eyes warily at the Felis as he does so. The cat stares back intensely, gaze downright predatory, the stunning glare his species is known for. Taeil restrains a shiver and reluctantly tears his eyes away to look down at the letter.

A quick once over tells him all he needs to know, and he lets out a small breath, setting the slip of paper back down and sliding it across the desk to the Felis.

"I can't do anything," he answers the questioning look he gets. "There's no return address."

"Wha-" the Felis huffs. He snatches the letter up, stares at it with such heat that Taeil fears the paper may burst into flames, and then throws it back onto the desk with a frustrated growl. 

It catches air in just the right way and slides completely off the desk, hitting the floorboards by Taeil’s feet with a soft thump. 

He shoots the man an exasperated look, and while he bends to pick it up, the cat goes on with an increasingly angry tone, "Can't- Can't you fucking check your records or something to find out where it came from? I mean, fuck, it was sent fucking intergalatic, you _have_ to keep track of that, right?"

Taeil sighs loudly from under his desk, barely reaching to just brush the edge of the letter, taking his sweet time retrieving it to avoid meeting those piercing eyes again. Hell, he's half tempted to abandon his seat completely to hide out down here from the Felis's wrath, but that would be "unprofessional."

Without looking up or even really moving, he answers in little more than a mumble, "I mean, we _do_ have records somewhere, but I don't keep track of that-"

"Check them!" the man demands, and Taeil clenches his jaw.

Deciding that he's had just about enough, he grabs the letter and sits upright, mouth open to tell the Felis off.

And then he finds himself staring down the straight, steel barrel of a gun.

The Felis stares at him from the other end with a scarily steady hand and a warning in his eyes, voice heavy as he repeats, "Check. Them."

Taeil scrambles to do so, and yet Jaehyun still walks out of the post office empty-handed. Or rather, he walks out with the crinkled letter clenched his fist and absolutely no answers. He considers throwing it into the first bin he comes across like the trash it is, but that thought leaves his mind as quickly as it came. As much as he hates it, he doesn't have an option. His orders are here in his hand, scribbled in black ink in handwriting he remembers so painfully well.

 _"You will come to planet P-214 of the SM galaxy, system N3O,"_ his father wrote. _"This is not an option. Your family needs you."_

Merely thinking about it, about that matter-of-fact wording and the nearly smug tone, makes Jaehyun frown that much harder, his fist clenching even tighter around the letter. Just like his father to give him orders with no way to dispute it. He apparently even went as far as to spook whatever poor postman sent the call to action out, if the "absolute zilch on record," as that Moonie so eloquently put it, is anything to go off of.

(Though Jaehyun supposes he's one to talk. He did _just_ threaten his own postman with a gun. Whoops.)

Truly, Jaehyun couldn't care less about what his father has to say to him, no matter how "urgent" it may be, but with no way to dispute it, there’s nothing he can do. And, unfortunately, there’s no running away this time. His father made damn sure of that.

_"I'll be sending a pilot to pick you up. He will arrive during what I believe your planet calls the month of November, and he has orders to use force if necessary. Do not make things difficult, Yoonoh."_

He knows how this goes. This certainly isn't the first time he's had to uproot his entire life for his father's demands, but he does plan on it to be the last.

The gun tucked into the back of his belt suddenly feels twice as heavy as he walks on his way home, expression deadly.

\----

"Hyung."

Johnny doesn't look up from the papers on his desk. "Mark," he answers, _that_ tone heavy in his voice.

He can practically hear the sheepish grin in the younger's voice as he quickly corrects himself, " _Johnny,_ sorry. Old habits, you know how it is."

Johnny doesn't know how it is. His old habits died with Earth years ago. He sighs, "Do you need something?"

"Oh," Mark gasps softly, and he takes a small step closer. His thin fingers delicately touch Johnny's desk, finally drawing the human's gaze up from the all-consuming paperwork, and he smiles when their eyes meet. "I was, uh- I was gonna ask if you wanted to, like, hang tonight."

His eyes are so wide and hopeful that Johnny, as always, has a hard time saying no outright. He leans back in his seat for the first time in hours and sighs once more, smiling tiredly up at Mark. "Where?" he asks, deciding to humor him.

Apparently, that's the wrong decision, as Mark practically lights up, the stars in his eyes glimmering that much brighter. "Oh, uh! I mean, I was thinking about that Moon Bar a couple planets over. It just opened, like, last week, have you heard of it?"

Johnny catches Doyoung shooting him a stern look, the words "don't lead him on" floating into his mind on the alien's pointed gaze. Johnny thinks back a quick "get out of my brain, asshole" before shaking his head to Mark's question.

"I haven't," he answers, a tight, polite smile on his lips.

"Oh, man, it's really good," Mark smiles back, and his is so genuine and excited that Johnny feels guilty. 

Again, he catches Doyoung glaring his way, and he tries his best to put up a mental block to keep out whatever thoughts the alien is shooting his way.

"They have these drinks that are _awesome,_ dude. Like, suh- _weet!_ But they are super, uh, alcoholic," Mark says it like it's a bad word, voice lowering to barely a whisper, a soft flush to his cheeks. He's probably scared of being caught talking about booze while on the clock. 

Johnny would reassure him not to worry, that Chief Qian has a love for alcohol unrivaled, but fucking _Doyoung_ is insistent, stare and invading thoughts boring holes in the side of Johnny's head and making it hard to think of anything other than “get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head.”

"But, um, yeah," Mark goes on, fingers tapping on Johnny's desk nervously and just adding to the human's gradually building tension. "They had, like, watermelon flavor and a bunch of other cool Earth-y flavors, so, like, I think the owner might be from Milkdromeda. Donghyuck thought so too. Oh-"

" _Bitch,_ if you don't tell him-" Doyoung snaps in Johnny's mind, and Johnny shoots him a sharp look out of the corner of his eye, only to get one even meaner in return. Looks like Johnny will have to do more mental training to keep him out.

"-right, I went with Donghyuck the other night or something, but, uh, h-he's just a friend of mine, y'know. Not like a- a _boyfriend,_ just a-"

Finally, Johnny can't take anymore, the assault from both sides overwhelming his already exhausted mind, and he snaps a quick, "Okay!"

His two attackers pause, one looking smug and smart while the other appears thoroughly shocked, and for a moment, it's so quiet between the three of them that even with the general buzz of office life beyond them, Johnny could hear a pin drop.

He lets it sit a moment, breathing in the brief peace, before turning his attention to the latter of the two, smiling patiently up at him.

"Mark," he starts, and that seems to soothe the younger a bit, his tense shoulders falling and his surprise melting into a small smile. But then he goes on, and as he does, Mark's expression falls, "I'd like to go with you, but, I mean, I don't know, man. Don't you think it'd be weird? We _are_ coworkers."

"But-" he starts to argue, but then Johnny raises his eyebrows, and he seems to catch on. Visibly disheartened, he looks down, fingers twiddling idly with the hem of his uniform shirt. "Well, I-I guess…"

Guilt floods Johnny once more, and he bites the inside of his cheek, staring at the clearly disappointed alien before him. After no longer than a second, he sighs in defeat, "But, I mean, I guess I wouldn't mind if some other time - not tonight - we, uh- we went and checked out this Moon Bar together."

Mark quickly looks up, a huge grin dawning over his face, eyes glimmering with hope once more.

"As _friends_ ," Johnny adds quickly, but that doesn't seem to diminish Mark's hope even slightly.

"Awesome!" he chirps. "Okay, yeah, great! Uh, whenever you want to, just let me know, alright?"

Johnny barely holds back a sigh and nods, smiling back. "I will."

"Great," Mark repeats, that big, sunshine grin never leaving his face, and for a moment, Johnny finds himself a bit taken by it. 

In the dull and dreary surroundings of Home Base’s offices, where everything is varying shades of gray and there are no windows(a safety hazard, apparently), Mark _glows._ Like a beacon for the hope in his eyes, he glows and shines, and something about it makes it hard for Johnny to breathe. He nearly reaches out to stop the young alien when he begins to back away, some part of him scared of losing that light, but he catches himself.

Eyes never straying from looking at Johnny like he hung the stars, Mark makes a small motion towards his desk while reluctantly backing away and chuckles, "Now, I gotta-"

Johnny nods and gives a tight-lipped smile, his fists clenched on his lap beneath his desk. "Yeah, you probably ought to."

"Yeah," Mark agrees with possibly the cutest giggle Johnny's heard. Still, he lingers a couple more seconds before finally dragging himself away. As he goes, he keeps glancing back towards Johnny and smiling, looking more like an eager schoolboy with a crush than an officer of the Intergalatic Force. He nearly trips over his own feet as a result but brushes it off with a sheepish chuckle and goes on after a wave of encouragement from Johnny.

And as soon as he's out of sight, Doyoung's voice is in Johnny's ear, "You are literally _such_ a pushover."

Johnny glances at him, huffs, and then turns his seat to face his own desk once more, having drifted while amusing sweet little Mark. He hunches over his paperwork like before and mumbles back half-heartedly, "Am not."

"This is why he keeps coming back, you know," Doyoung accuses, tone sharp and short. "Because he thinks he has a chance with you, because you won’t say no."

Johnny wants to argue _how am I supposed to say no to that face?,_ but he keeps his mouth shut, jaw clenched. He's too tired and got too much on his mind to argue with Doyoung about anything right now.

"Hey," the alien huffs. "Are you listening to me?"

"Sure," Johnny mutters, and that only seems to stir the pot even more.

Doyoung huffs again, this one even more offended than the last, and Johnny can already hear the insults the minute he opens his mouth.

"Now, Doie," a soft voice comes instead, startling both of them. They turn at the same time to look at the approaching owner of said voice, and the young cyborg smiles sweetly at them, stack of papers in his hand, likely meant to copy or hand off to someone else. "Johnny's had a hard enough day already, can't you give him a little break?"

That reminder seems to strike Doyoung about as hard as it does Johnny, and the younger presses his lips together in a tight line before nodding and going back to his work, mumbling a soft apology.

"It's fine," Johnny responds, unable to keep a certain hoarseness out of his voice as he thinks back on the day's events. The sight of Jaehyun's ship disappearing into the stars still weighs heavy on his mind and heart, and it seems to show in his expression, as Taeyong makes a troubled noise.

"I'm sorry," he says, one gentle hand coming up to rest on Johnny's shoulder. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories, I just-"

"No," Johnny breathes out, and he smiles up at Taeyong as reassuring as he can manage. "It's okay, I promise. It was really unavoidable, and- and I'm over it now. There's always next time, y'know?"

Yeah right, his brain interjects, as if there'll even be a next time. Searching for one man in the huge span of this universe and those beyond is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, only the needle is invisible to the naked eye. So many years of searching, and in all that time, he only found the needle once, and it slipped right through his fingers. Who knows how long it’ll take to find him again, and if he does, how he’ll manage to hold onto him.

Still, even with that knowledge nagging at the back of his mind, he keeps a smile on his face, not wanting Taeyong to fret anymore than he already has. Knowing Taeyong, he’s probably spent the entire time Johnny’s been back at Base worrying his little electronic heart out.

The cyborg hesitates, apprehension clear in the way his features shift, eyebrows pinching together, eyes searching Johnny's, lips turned down in a frown. But eventually, much to Johnny's relief, he relents, albeit with a sigh.

"Alright," he says quietly. "But really. You did have a hard day, and, I mean, if you need a break, I can always talk to Kun-"

"No, really, that's-"

" _Kun?_ " Doyoung interrupts, staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at Taeyong, startling the both of them.

It takes Johnny a moment to catch on, but when he does, he turns his surprised expression to Taeyong as well, a smug grin teasing his lips. "Whoa, yeah, _Kun?_ I didn't know you were on first name basis with the Chief."

Taeyong's stomach audibly drops, and he stammers, cheeks flushing as red as the hair color he had last week, "I-I need to, um-"

Holding up the papers in his hands, he wordlessly excuses himself, quickly slipping between his two friends' desks and hurrying off toward the copier.

Doyoung scoffs and is out of his seat in the blink of an eye. "Oh, no you don't!" he snickers as he hurries off after Taeyong, on his heels in the matter of a few strides.

Johnny laughs, but as his friends' voices slowly fade into the background, so does his own. Gradually, his expression falls as well, the thoughts of the day's earlier events coming back to him once more, and he finds himself staring numbly at the papers on his desk.

He knows he shouldn't linger on such things, but he can't get it out of his mind - the look in Jaehyun's eyes when they first saw each other after all this time.

The realization, the fear. He wasn't running because he was a thief scared of getting caught. He was running from the past that had finally caught up to him.

He was running from _Johnny._

Johnny clenches his fists over his paperwork. He wants to scream, _you bastard, take responsibility,_ but he's in a public space. Even if he wasn't though, there's a knot in his throat, thick and heavy and hard to swallow. It makes his eyes burn and his throat sting, and no matter how hard he tries, words just won't come out. He's surprised he can even breathe with it lodged in so tight.

All this time, and Jaehyun runs from him and _escapes._ For his own selfish desires, he ran just as he did all those years ago, and it makes Johnny's blood boil.

He slips his fingers under his stack of paperwork and pulls out the letter he's been rereading over and over in secret since he got back to Base. It's one of the few he saved from that time years ago, that cruel and lonely Winter. He's read it many times before, to the point that he has it memorized, but every time, the words cut just as deep, three in particular. The same three Jaehyun told him the night he left, an empty promise whispered against his lips in the middle of the night.

An anger rises inside him, a frustration not only at himself but at Jaehyun as well. It's like nothing he's felt before, a heat deep inside his chest, and he figures it must be the burn of betrayal. It feels like someone took a scorching hot iron and pressed it to his heart, and it hurts worse that anything he's ever known.

One thought enters his mind then - "I need a drink." - and with that, he stands from his seat and heads off through the maze of desks to find Mark, purpose in every step he takes and a bitter taste in his mouth.

\----

"I'll be back."

Johnny's response is precious, the sweetest little whimper into Jaehyun's waiting mouth. His hands get twice as desperate then too, clutching at the sleeves of Jaehyun's jacket or his pants or his tail, wherever he can reach. He holds on like his life depends on it, and as much as the Felis wishes he could stay to further savor his sounds, his taste, his scent, he can already hear the hum of a ship outside, sent just for him.

He kisses Johnny once, twice, three times more, and when he finally tears himself away, he whispers a promise he knows he won't fulfill into the dark of the room and leaves without another word.

As soon as he steps out the front door of their building, the cold breeze of the late Fall night bites at his cheeks, wet with the tears he shed on his elevator ride down. He sniffles for probably the hundredth time, wiping the remaining drops away with his sleeve. He needs to seem at least a little put together for his father's fetching dog if he wants his plan to work.

The sleek ship sits in the center of the street, parked there with no care for through-traffic, though not that there's much this time of night. It's an older model, but it's clearly been revamped. Even under the moonlight, he can see that its blue paint job is fresh, likely just a few days old and likely paid for by his father, just like whatever parts were bought to give its engine that sweet, smooth purr. He at least gets a little satisfaction in knowing that such a reviving job probably cost his father a pretty penny.

As he approaches, the ramp to the ship's cabin opens and lowers with a hiss, and he walks up with little hesitation, feet thumping on the metal. He winces at the bright lights of the interior of the ship and scrunches his face up, pausing at the top of the ramp and merely standing there as it closes behind him, searching the cabin through squinted eyes for the pilot.

He's surprised to find both the pilot and co-pilot's seats empty, and he blinks a few times at the sight before looking around once more, eyes lingering suspiciously on the couple doors here and there. Is the pilot _hiding_ from him?

"Catch," someone says suddenly from behind him, and his body seems to move on its own as he spins on his heels, hand shooting up in a split second to grab whatever's just been thrown his way.

All he sees is a blur, but when it hits his palm, it's surprisingly soft. He blinks again and looks at the object curiously, only to find a sub sandwich wrapped in plastic clutched in his hand.

The thrower whistles, clearly impressed, and Jaehyun quickly looks up. 

He, whoever he is, stands leaning against the glass half-wall lining the small loft-kitchen of the cabin, arms crossed over the blue rail topping the pane. He wears a painfully smug grin, eyes fox-like and piercing as he stares down his nose at Jaehyun, white hair falling over his shoulders and in front of his face with a sly beauty. Though he seems so coy and proud at first glance, there's also something that sets Jaehyun at ease, a certain tone to his smile or shine in his eyes that says he's harmless, though clearly mischievous.

"Jaehyun, right?" he asks, and the Felis nods.

"Yes, that's right. And you are?"

"Yuta," the man answers easily, and he walks to make the quick trip down the short staircase, nodding at the sandwich in Jaehyun's hand as he walks past on his way to the two seats at the front of the cabin, boots tapping on the metal floor as he goes. "Made that for you, figured you might be hungry."

That short pass lets Jaehyun catch his scent, and it smells inhuman, alien like his own. It comes as a surprise, considering his Earthly fashion and appearance. He stares curiously at the back of the man's form, searching for any extraterrestrial features, and at the risk of sounding ungrateful, he answers, "Oh, I'm not."

Yuta looks over his shoulder at him and grins again. "You will be. We've got a long trip ahead of us."

A certain dread fills Jaehyun's stomach at that, and he swallows thickly, looking down at the sandwich once more. He stares for a moment before sighing and trailing after Yuta to the seats, watching as he plops down in the pilot's.

For a while, he stands there awkwardly, staring over the man's shoulder as he skillfully presses various buttons on the control panel, fingers moving as if it's second nature. It takes him another second before he wills up the courage to clear his throat and asks, "And where should I sit?"

Yuta turns to blink at him and then chuckles. "I mean-" he nods to the co-pilot's seat. "Do you see any other places to sit?"

The Felis's cheeks warm, and he flicks his tail once in lieu of a response, a fact that Yuta seems to find very amusing, as his eyes twinkle and he chuckles once more. Jaehyun steps around and takes a seat, setting his sandwich in his lap and mumbling his defense while buckling up, "Well, I wasn't sure if there was some room you wanted to confine me to or-"

"I mean, there's a bedroom," Yuta hums, lips twitching in a smile as he engages the ship's engine, bringing it fully to life with a rising hum. "But if you're not buckled in while we leave the atmosphere and kick into hyperspeed, you'll get tossed around like a hot potato, and seeing as how your dad entrusted me to deliver you safely…"

Jaehyun clenches his jaw at the mention of his father, ears lying back atop his head in irritation.

It's something Yuta seems to note and pick up on, as after a quick glance the Felis's way, he clears his throat and tacks on, "But, you know, I do have some rope around here somewhere, so if you really want to go to bed-"

Jaehyun sputters before bursting into laughter, and Yuta grins along, and that's how they leave the atmosphere - joking and jesting.

If Johnny knew Jaehyun left him behind with a smile on his face, he'd shoot him the next time he sees him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this in one sitting on my phone so i hope its okay ;; hopefully it answers SOME questions~~  
> thank you to everyone who showed interest in this story!! i rlly love writing this au and tho i dont reply all the time, i read every comment and im so grateful for each and every one TTTT your interest motivates me fjdkflks
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/longerassride) || [cc](https://curiouscat.me/catsbyy)


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